Re: Upgrading server motherboard

Hi all, I want to thank everyone for their contribution.

I used Paragon Drive Copy in the end for the image but I took many drivers
back to basics first and disbaled RAID and used a single drive to move
across. Jeff of Swing suggested the Shadow Protect too but they don't provide
for the HIR on the trial version or the ISO needed for restore, not anymore.
So be aware of that unless you are buying it. Paragon got me there with some
minor fidling with drivers. Jeff has a good cheat *** on the overall
process too. Thanks Jeff.

NOW for the ongoing issue... DHCP.... the service will stop immediately I
try to start it, DHCP Client is OK. I tried to unstall and reinstall DHCP,
didn't help. I authorised the server but it didn't help, the DHCP console
shows a red cross on the entry. I am not sure I cleaned up all the old NIC
properties/drivers etc, if that is relevant. I am new to such an upgrade. I
have probably missed a few things. The result is no DHCP so addresses may
start to drop off as they expire and 1 LAN printer is now offline, but others
are OK. Reinstalling the driver didn't help.

I will be the personal slave of anyone who can help!! So long as you live
locally of course :o)

"Bazzar" wrote:

Hi Eugene

I did respond but it seems to have gone missing. So thank you to everyone
who has replied, Very much appreciated.

The system had Paragon Drive Copy 8 Pro. I am not sure if this creates a
proper image that can boot on recovery. It seems to imply it can.

I found the server board I was supplied had a fault and the customer in the
mean time has had second thoughts about how well the system is performing. I
have warned them their equipment is getting old although still error free, so
far. I am negotiating to return the equipment and if possible just do a
memory upgrade for now on the old server. If I can't get a return then the
customer is up for the upgrade after all and I will follow all the good
advice I have received. Sorry for this sudden change on the customer's part.
If Paragon Drive Copy doesn't provide the image I need I will get something
that does based on the advice I have been given.

Thanks one and all.

"Eugene Tan [SBS MVP]" wrote:

hi Barry,

As Larry and others have mentioned, an imaging product with the ability to
do
hardware independent restore, would enable you to avoid reinstalling from
scratch,
and thus the solution you're looking for.

You would need to use something like ShadowProtect to create images of all
the
relevant drives on your existing server, then restore the images to the new
server.
The HIR feature enables new drivers to be injected during the restore, so
that you
can effectively migrate hardware and restore onto the RAID of the new mobo.
Whichever software you use, do a chkdsk of your partitions to clean up an
errors
before you begin.

I hope the above explains the process a bit, and there's still the matter of
licensing.
OEM licenses can't be migrated, so the customer would need to get a new
license
if the current one is OEM.

To overcome concerns, test it. Image the existing server, restore to the
new server.

Note that this is not a trivial task and you should read the documentation
for any
caveats and features or options to apply relevant to each corresponding
product.
I'm not suggesting you try all the products, but having picked one, make
sure you
test that it works before you decomission the existing server.

BTW, you've not mentioned what you're using to create backup images.

HTH,
Eugene Tan

===============================
"Bazzar" <Bazzar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DACA8C2F-3273-473C-AB68-A9EA9D7E2615@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Swing have replied and state that this situation is not handled by their
product. They recommend an Image approach, although an image would still
have
the original RAID info on it and I fear that will destabalise the new RAID
setup. Any thoughts on that?

Barry

"Michael Jenkin (mickyj.com)" wrote:

Hello,

I rarely hear of people doing this successfully.
The HAL (Hardware abstraction layer) is built when you first install the
server. It looks at the processor and other hardware components when it
makes the desision what to install and configure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_Abstraction_Layer

I have heard of people preparing a server by installing all the drivers
for the new motherboard before downing the server and bringing it back
on on the new hardware. the drivers obviously are then on the server in
preparation and do not actually function under the existing system,
waiting for when it detects the new hardware.

This can work well with workstation software as long as you stay within
the same class of CPU etc.

I have also heard of migration kits (HP servers had one at one stage)
which helps you keep the sftware intact and move to new hardware.

As you have a RAID etc, this gets tricky. Have you considered a Swing
migration? It involves more hardware (temporarily) but it might be your
way to go.

check it out at http://www.sbsmigration.com

you also need to consider if the OS is OEM. It will not work on
different hardware. Licences might also be OEM.

All things to think about.

Thanks


Bazzar wrote:

I have a customer wanting to upgrade their server motherboard. It has
SBS2003
SP2 with Exhange. The problem I have is the new RAID will require
formatting
the hard drives.

I do not want to have to reinstall all the software and OS as they are
in
the medical field and have lots of software requiring various licensing
requirements that take a long time to sort out. It would take them off
air
for some time and that is not acceptable.

An image is made to an IDE drive monthly and the DVD is IDE but the new
board has no IDE. I can replace the DVD with a SATA version. It seems
such a
simple idea to upgrade the motherboard but htere seems to be some major
issues!!

Is there any way to carry out this upgrade without reinstalling
everything?

--
Michael J. Jenkin, Senior Systems Engineer

Director - Business Technology Partners Pty Ltd (Australia) - Microsoft
Small Business Specialists
Webmaster - http://www.mickyj.com, Community website with SBS answers,
blog and AntiMalware Tools.

Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/mickyj






.

Loading